DANBURY, Conn. - Sophomore
Maximus Vigo (Canton, Mich.) scored the Wolves goal, as the Western Connecticut State University men's soccer team tied the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies in Little East Conference (LEC) action this afternoon at Westside Complex. WestConn moves to 11-4-3 overall and 4-1-2 in the Little East with one game left in the regular season at Rhode Island College next Saturday at 1 p.m. Southern Maine snaps a four-game losing skid and is now 4-9-4 overall and 2-4-1 in the league.
The offenses started off slow with just a handful of shots between the teams in the opening 25 minutes, but Vigo opened the scoring in the 26th minute when he one-timed a rolling pass from the deep left corner by senior
Franz Muhaj (Bridgeport, Conn.) past Southern Maine goalkeeper Simon Gabaree. The Wolves had several more scoring chances later in the first half. Vigo had another blast moments after his goal saved by Gabaree, while senior midfielder
Kent Eannarino (Brookfield, Conn.) knifed his way through the middle of the Husky defense but shot just wide left in the 29th minute.
The second half also started off slowly although Gabaree stymied another bid by Eannarino with a diving save of a free kick from just outside the right corner of the box in the 67th minute. Southern Maine nearly tied the game in the 75th minute but WestConn senior back
Mark Tricarico (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) smothered a shot by Husky freshman Jack Brady to prevent it from entering an empty net after Wolves keeper Zach Benson (Milford, Conn.) had come out to make a play on the other side of the goal.
The game-tying tally for the visitors came on a Brady corner kick from the right side that Tyler St. Martin managed to head into the near post with just 1:19 left in the contest. Neither team got off a shot in the final stages. Benson finished with two saves and Gabaree had five stops. WestConn outshot the Huskies, 10-1, in the first half but was doubled up in the shots, 6-3, in the second stanza. Each team had four corner kicks.
